Predator & Prey
by RedRoanRoad
Summary: With the final years of highschool finally approaching Lyanna Silver just wants to leave.  But this year holds more in store than she had ever imagined. Including love, found in the eyes of her former prey.
1. Chapter 1

Leyanna Silver stood at the top of the hill surveying the forests by night. Her Strong lupine body bristled with power and her pelt ruffled gently in the cool breeze of the night. She scanned the surrounding woods. "The pickings will be slim tonight," She thought to herself. It was early September and winter would soon be approaching. Most of the prey animals where getting ready to go into hibernation. She had previously seen a few rabbits on her trek up to the top of the hill, but they were so slim and meek they were hardly the worthy prey that she seeked tonight. Yes tonight larger prey was required. Her summer hunting season was coming to a close, soon she would have to abandon the long summer nights spent running and howling beneath a warm summer moon. Soon she must return to school and away from her beloved wilderness. The thought of having to return seemed almost too much to bear at the current moment. She couldn't let the sweet adrenaline generated by the hunt fall into human despair. She continued to scan the forest. No tonight was not a night of meekness tonight she would close her season with a bang. A large prey would have to sate here beastly tastes tonight. Suddenly the brush to her right shifted, she immediately turned her head to the source of the sound. Her eyes peered hopelessly into the velvet darkness. Nothing had shown itself. She growled the beast in her wanted to give chase but her human side knew much better than that. There where bigger things in the forest than herself and not all of them walked on four legs. Another rustle from the same bush, deeper into the forest this time. She immediately began to walk towards in powerful muscles stretching beneath her camouflaged lupine exterior. She jumped into the bush and was now deep within the woods, whatever had caused the disturbance was now gone, she growled under her breath at the frustration of it. She pushed her muzzle to the ground to take in the scent of the earth. Dirt and moss was all the greeted her, then she smelled it something strong like vinegar, warm but not salty like blood. She followed the scent to a small covering of clovers. Urine something else had went here, it wasn't another wolf marking it's territory it was far to out of place, no, this was a prey animal and a large one at that. She looked into a small thicket of thorns and saw loose strands of hair caught amongst the briars and the bramble. She smiled a cold lupine grin to herself. Tonight she would eat well her hunting season would end well after all.

She took off into the direction of the briar bush. She knew where the animal would be heading it wasn't a matter of distance at this point but rather of time. If she didn't meet her prey soon enough it would meld back into the forest and she would not have the chance to intercept it again. She ran faster and faster powerful canine muscles straining to keep pace with a prey that she couldn't even see. The trees began to grow sparser and thinner as she made her way through the woods the forest was coming to an end. She had to move quickly. All of a sudden the tree line disappeared and gave way to a sprawling clearing that was a meadow. She crouched down to crawl on her belly through all the tall grass. She had to keep quiet whatever this prey was it was certainly going to be taller than her, certainly not stronger but with a height advantage it might see her coming through the grass and proceed to flee in terror. And she certainly didn't wish to give it any undue fear . . . at least not yet. Based on what she had seen from the briar bush the animal would have to be a decent size, deer most likely, If she was lucky it might be a stag or even an elk or. Her thought was cut short as she heard a small dropping of water from the stream ahead of her. She listened closer breathing, heaving powerful breathing. It was large certainly large. She lifted her head above the grass line to get a view, hoping not to frighten her quarry away with her inquisitiveness. Suddenly a form emerged from the water s edge and large and powerful animal loomed into view. Its coat was a reddish shade of brown and its hairs were fine except for the long tail that lay atop its hindquarters. She looked it up and down and let out a canid whine of exasperation. A horse, She had tracked a goddamn HORSE.

Suddenly it's pricked up at the sound of her dog like cry. It turned it's slender equine head and its' eyes locked directly into hers. She looked at it and let out a cackling snarl of fury and lunged at the beast. The horse's eyes widened in primal horror and immediately attempted to bolt. She landed and bit deep into the hindquarters of the animal, wrenching her fangs deep into its flesh. The horse let out a scream of pain and terror and immediately began to back kick widely into the air in an attempt to throw her off. She grabbed on with forepaws and continued to tear away at the animal's flacks with fury. The prey continued to kick and scream to no effect, Liyanna found this immensely entertaining if she could have let go to laugh she would have. Suddenly the horse leaped into the air with all four feet and rolled around it mid jump. Suddenly the hulk of the beast came back to earth with a terrible shock. With a loud thud Liyanna was suddenly was underneath the beast, it's massive hindquarters coming down on top of her head with a powerful force. For a moment she was dazed by the move, then she saw the horse roll over in the dirt and return to it's feet and begin a mad gallop for the safety of the treeline. Her head ached and her nose was bleeding furiously she got up and began to lope after the screaming animal. She had to move fast, if the horse got itself up to a full gallop she would have no hope in being able to catch it. Horses she knew may be clumsy and stupid but when they got up to full running speed it would be nigh impossible to catch them, especially if they were fleeing for their life. She began to close quickly on the wounded animal. The blood, the sweet, and the fear, she could smell it all. She wasn't going to end the hunt like this she wouldn't let it escape. With one finally surge of energy she leaped at the horses neck and clamped down with her fangs.


	2. Chapter 2

Liyanna hated horses.

There was a vast multitude of reasons but for now she could a think of a few. First off they had ruined her hunt for the evening if not the season. She stripped off her clothes and stepped into the cheap yellow shower. She turned on the water as high as she could and simply stood in the shower looking upon her surrounding. She lived in a small rundown trailer on the local native reservation most people in her tribe did. The bathroom that she currently called her own lived up to all the amenities that a trailer bathroom sought to have. In short, it was a Spartan as a bathroom could be. The walls of the room used to be white but after years of use they a fallen into a rather ugly shade of greenish yellow with either of the colors being more prominent in certain areas than others. She looked at the water that was being washed down the shower drain; most of the tub was a pink mixed with copper stains of green. She reached blindly to the wall to pick up a dish of soap. Only to return with a couple of Chiclets of dial. She looked at the paltry amount of soap in her hand and threw it down towards the drain. How the hell antibacterial soap could get moldy was beyond her. She thrust her face into the lukewarm stream of water and felt the sting of her bruises. The hunt hadn't ended well; she leaped for the back of the horse's neck. She had landed firmly but still managed to slide back towards the tail of the fleeing beast and then with one final kick from of its hindlegs she went flying into a tree. Specifically the trunk, to hit the leafs or bushes would have been too kind for the evening. God did she hurt like hell, and she smelled as well making it even worse. Wild horse would roam through her part of the woods form time to time. As prey she hated them, deer and elk were always tender and clean but horses not so much. Elk and Deer were noble animals and once cornered would die with dignity, horses on the other hand weren't, they always smelled of sweet and fear . . . and manure. Cowardly lumbering things she wished she'd found better quarry to finish her night with, now she was hungry and hurt. The horse had gotten away leaving her heavily injured and smelling like shit, guess that what you got for biting one in the ass. She turned away in the shower and winced as the water cascaded around the cuts in her back. She had gotten the beast pretty good from what she'd seen. With wounds as deep as that the animal couldn't make it very far for very long. She hoped to the moon that it hurt more than she did right now. Liyanna would have gone out to check, the horse was bleeding a rainstorm it wouldn't be hard to track down but she couldn't, not tonight. Tomorrow was the first day of her senior year of highschool, after this year she'd be free to run off and do what she pleased.

She listened intently to the beating of the water droplets against her skull and lost herself in the monotone rhythm. The almost thundering sound of the water drowned out the bruises and the cuts that she currently bore. With a final sigh of reluctance she went and turned the t faucet off. Rising from the shower she put on an old faded nightgown that had previously belonged to her mother. She stepped out of the washroom and entered the trailers dark and narrow hall. She went to her small room and lay down on her bed for a while. She tried to close her eyes but was roused by the sound of the television in the living room down the hallway. She groaned as she got up and went to investigate. There sitting in the living room was her two younger siblings. Liyanna cleared her throat to get their attention, they both quickly glanced over their shoulder to meet her gaze. "Beth, Gabe it's time for bed. The first day of school is tomorrow" Both of them protested " But Anna! I don't want to go to school! I want to stay here!" Liyanna let lose a small sigh although she had to act as their parent their gentle whines couldn't help but to tug at her heart. "You must go to school and learn, you ever want to get out of a place like this" Liyanna gestured around to the dilapidated interior of the trailer. Gabe spoke up with the smallest bit of hope in his voice "But Anna, you have a way out don't you? You'll take us with you . . . won't you?" Liyanna bit her lower lip to try to force back the tears, she quickly shock her head and recomposed herself. "We'll see Gabe, will see" With that she grabbed the remote and shut the TV off and with a few quick grasps she grabbed the children by their shirt collars and marched them off to their bedrooms. She closed the door behind her and slumped against it. A single teardrop ran down her face, as she looked out the dusty windows towards the brilliant full moon in the sky. She had promised her mother she would finish highschool. Even if she was dead it didn't matter. . She would do it for her. Once she was out of highschool then she would be free, free to do whatever she wanted. She could escape and maybe she'd bring Beth and Gabe with her. With a heavy heart she wandered back into the trailer's living room and laid herself out on the couch, despite scolding her siblings just moments ago for watching TV so late after a few minutes of restlessness she found herself fumbling for the remote. The pain from the hunt was too much to drown with sleep tonight so she might as well try to drown it in cheap soap opera's. She looked at the weathered pink clock on the wall. It was 2 am; she wouldn't get to sleep for another several hours.


	3. Chapter 3

The rusted old van creaked and groaned painfully as liyanna alighted from the drivers set. Liyanna winced at the sound of the straining metal she knew that she was not heavy it was the thought that her old car seemed to think otherwise. She glanced around the parking lot of her high school. Weeds sprung up between the various fault lines that had developed as a result of not being repaved for over thirty years. Most of the cars looked something like hers but only with a fresher coat of paint. Didn't matter to her though when the winter came around her van would be the only one to make it. Not because the engine was strong but because her's would be the only one with tire chains. With winter in mind she looked around at the various mountains that surrounded her school. Even though it was only the first of September many of the leaves had already begun to change color. All around the mountainside's hues of red, umber and orange had already begun to snake their way down from the top of the peaks to overwhelm the placid greens and blues of the leaves bellow. She loved the colors of autumn yet she couldn't help but let loose a sigh, the sight only helped to remind her of the ever-quickening pace of winter's rapid advance. She heard the first bell ring and saw the small cliches of students still loitering in the lot begin to move toward the main doors. She let the herds pass while she continued to stare at the surrounding mountains. She sighed softly to herself. Next year won't have to be like this, next year they won't be an omen but a beacon. She looked towards the schools double doors once again and proceeded to make her way towards the front gates.

She made her way to her prearranged homeroom. She really didn't need a sheet for this task. After all there was only two hundred students total in her highschool. Each grade had about fifty students each so when it came down to it there was only about two homerooms for each grade. She made her way to the back of the school, senior section. There stood two rooms at the end of her hallway. For no reason in particular she took a guess that her room was the one on the left, room 408A. She looked down at her schedule and rolled her eyes, room 408B, the door on the right. Damn so close! She walked in to her classroom and took a seat at the desk in the back corner of the room. She always liked to sit in the back of the classroom; she wasn't particularly antisocial to any degree. It was more so because it allowed her a better view of the room and it's occupants. From here she could cast her gaze out among the sea of desk and watch the herd of students. She liked to people watch, it was amusing really. Most of the students were all the same, they all herded together into little cliches for attention and support, alone and by themselves they were cowardly. Once in awhile she'd see a student who seemed bolder than the rest, it was all well and good but sooner or later she would eventually see through their facade. She glanced towards her left to the back of the cluster of students. Generally the loudmouths and clowns would sit in the back of the room and make racket, they themselves were secretly too nervous to sit in the front for fear of the teacher and would instead placed quieter students in front of them. Most of her classmates seemed okay from what she could tell, all except for two. One was wearing some type of purple velvet vest with light blue pants and a pair of sunglasses. The other one was wearing some type of sports jersey and jeans. The one in the jersey looked her way and smiled suggestively. Liyanna looked away and laughed well she already had them figured out well enough. She looked towards the front row of students and surveyed the crowd. Most of them seemed decent if at least uninteresting. As she moved her eyes down the front row of students her eyes came to rest on the last one. She leaned forward a little bit in her desk to get a closer look. In the last seat directly opposite the room from her sat a small boy. His hair was a light reddish brown and was unkempt to say the least. He was holding a pencil in his hand; it seemed to twitch rapidly back and forth nervously. She sat back in her seat perplexed. The boy was hunched over protectively it seemed in his desk, from where she sat it seemed as if his entire frail frame shook with fearful energy. She narrowed her eyes to get a keener look. Suddenly the boy looked behind him to see Liyanna seemingly glaring at him. Startled, he let out a soft yelp and snapped his pencil in his fingers. He immediately broke eye contact and went to get the shattered remains of his pencil from off the floor. Lityanna looked around towards the rest of the class. Nobody had bothered to take notice. He stole one last frightful glance over his shoulder at her corner and then began to gaze intensely on the still blank blackboard while her nervously played with the splintered remains of the ruined pencil. Liyanna gazed at him dumbstruck. She looked towards the purple vested student on her right. A grin began to spread across his face. Liyanna could feel one as well. She folded her arms across the front of the desk and put her head down to stifle a laugh. "Yep, this year's gonna be long" She smirked to herself.


End file.
